Nuclear

Overview Current Standards Activities

Objective

The objective of the CSA Nuclear Standards Program is to help promote a safe and reliable nuclear power industry in Canada and have a positive influence on the international nuclear power industry.

While focusing on nuclear power plants, the program area provides guidance for other types of nuclear facilities for selected topics, such as radioactive waste management and environmental releases.

Specifically, the program is designed to help:

Address industry knowledge management challenges by embedding key historical knowledge in documents and exposing young technical personnel to seasoned experts.
Provide an alternative to Regulatory Documents with consistent guidance to the Industry.
Provide a structure for interpretations of Standards by an “expert panel”.
Meet identified stakeholder needs for Standards on which to base future work.
Provide standards and forums to support licensing and regulation.

Published CSA Nuclear Standards

What is a Request for Interpretation

While it is always CSA’s goal to use language in its standards that is sufficiently clear, there are times when CSA receives a request for the interpretation of a specific clause or clauses of a standard to clarify the intent of the committee.

An interpretation is a written clarification of the meaning of a specific provision of a standard. The request will be brought to the appropriate Technical Committee to provide the official technical interpretation. All interpretations must be formally approved by letter ballot or recorded vote by the Technical Committee.

How to prepare a Request for Interpretation

Requests for interpretation should

(a)	define the problem, making reference to the specific clause, and, where appropriate, include an illustrative sketch;
(b)	provide an explanation of circumstances surrounding the actual field condition; and
(c)	be phrased where possible to permit a specific “yes” or “no” answer.

Requests for interpretation will not be accepted if the matter is known to be before the courts or an administrative tribunal, or if the requests refer to a superseded or withdrawn standard, an endorsed standard, or notes or informative annexes of published standards.

An interpretation may address either the literal text or the intent of the text of a standard as follows:

(a)

An interpretation of the literal text is really an explanation, perhaps using different words or expanding on the original wording, without changing the intent of the text. This may be determined from committee records or by invoking the collective memory, and achieving agreement as to that memory, of those providing the interpretation.

(b)

An interpretation of the intent of the text is applicable in cases where the wording of a particular clause precludes something not contemplated at the time of writing the standard. Again, committee records, discussions, notes, and the collective memory of those who were present at the time the standard was drafted should be used to interpret intent, and to confirm that it was truly the intent of the consensus at the time of writing.

When the interpretation applies to a standard that has been referenced in legislation and is used for regulatory purposes, generally speaking it should be of the literal text and not of the intent. In all cases, if there appears to be a difference between the literal text and the intent, an amendment to the standard should be considered as soon as possible.

Note: Many CSA standards are adopted by regulatory authorities. The implementation of interpretations of such standards within any particular jurisdiction rests with the regulatory authority for that jurisdiction.

Submit a Request for Interpretation

A request for interpretation may be submitted to CSA at nuclearstandards@csa.ca

Technical Committee responses to Requests for Interpretation

All Interpretations listed have been formally approved by their related Technical Committee.

Approved Interpretations for:

To Find out More
Questions about the CSA Nuclear Program can be submitted by email to nuclearstandards@csa.ca.